NEW ORLEANS, LA- The New Orleans Police Department is only about a month away from opening a new “shoot house” housed inside its special operations division, NOLA.com reports.
“This is unprecedented for NOPD. Unprecedented. We never had anything like this,” Captain Preston Bax of the department’s Special Operations Division said last week during a tour conducted with the department’s Citizens Police Academy. “So we’re really excited about it.”
The new facility presents a significant step up from the current facility at St. Tammany Parish’s “shoot house” and a smaller version previously housed at the Special Operations Division headquarters.
NOPD officials say the new 4,000-square-foot facility will be more “tricked-out,” including a climbing station, a rappel station, furnished upstairs, a two-car garage, a catwalk where trainers can observe officers, and a “blackout room” downstairs.
“That’s going to simulate night vision, nighttime entries, and things like that,” Bax continued. “Because sometimes we go into structures where they don’t have electricity. Or we’ll shut the electricity down during SWAT rolls, because we want the cover of night.”
Since the NOPD didn’t have the funds to cover the facility, private donors covered the cost, and the facility will also be available to local, state, and federal partners, NOPD public information officer Aaron Looney said.
The goal is to prepare officers for inherently unpredictable situations, including executing arrest warrants for violent offenders, negotiating hostage situations, or clearing barricaded subjects, officials said, according to NOLA.com.
“All this stuff is a craft. It’s a skill. You’ve got to keep doing it,” Bax said, stating the obvious. Unfortunately, training is often the first thing to go in police budgets, yet it is one of the most important components of police work.
Bax said that the shoot house will be used to simulate real-time situations, with officers driving by the intended locations of high-risk warrants to gather video and photos. Once back at the shoot house, officers can mimic the layout of the residence by reconfiguring modular walls and blocking doors and windows.
“We can configure this house to the exact replica of the house that we’re about to hit,” Bax said.
The shoot house can also be used for post-incident review, allowing officers to assess what went right or wrong in the incident.
“A lot of times, we hit the same houses. So when we hit that house again, everybody’s on the same page,” said Officer Devon Joseph Sr., a 25-year veteran of the NOPD who has spent 21 years assigned to Special Ops. “Everything somebody did in the room, we’re going to go over it. That’s part of being the best.”
Bax said an advantage of the shoot house is it can put officers under stress, leading to building confidence in their skills. He said that excessive use of force, including officer-involved shootings, often occurs when officers are afraid and resort to poor tactics.
“So at this house right here, we’re going to make sure you’re up to date on your skills, you’re going to rely on your training,” Bax said.
“Any kind of high-stress situation, it’s going to be covered here. Countless, countless times, and they’re going to know how to handle it without any fear.”
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